Reasonable Wish
by Jacob M. Bosch
Summary: Dende makes a wish and Bulma, Krillin, Vegita, and Gohan learn why Saiyans and Nameks should never attain immortallity.
1. Chapter 1

****

Author: Jacob M. Bosch

****

PAIRING: None  
**RATING:** PG-13  
**WARNINGS:** None

****

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dragonball-Z, not really sure who does either. It'd be a shame if people I don't know sued me. J v

****

SUMMARY: Dende makes a wish and Bulma, Krillin, Vegita, and Gohan learn why Saiyans and Nameks should never attain immortality.

REASONABLE WISH

Young Dende stood in reverence of the Great Dragon God. He'd never seen Porunga before; he only heard stories—legends. Dende felt honored to be present for the Dragon's first summoning in almost five hundred years.

"Who should we wish back first?" Krillin asked the other alien, Gohan, after gawking in awe at Porunga's enormous size. Both off-worlders stood behind Dende wearing the same armor as the violent insurgents who'd invaded the Namek-jin homeworld.

"I don't know. Chou-zu for sure, only the Namek Dragonballs…" Gohan started.

"What's wrong, Gohan?"

"It's Mr. Piccolo! He's talking to me from Kaiou-sama's!"

"Mortals! What are your wishes?" Porunga bellowed impatiently.

"Hurry," said Dende, sweat droplets rolling down his forehead.

"That's a great idea, Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan exclaimed.

"Piccolo, you're brilliant! Okay, Dende our first wish is to bring Piccolo back to life!" Krillin told the Namek boy.

Finally, Dende thought, and began reciting the Earthlings wish to the Dragon God in Namekian.

"Your wish can be granted. It will be done."

A few quiet, tense seconds passed. Krillin and Gohan glancing nervously from Porunga then toward direction of Freeza's spaceship, and back again. Terrified that Vegita would awaken and meet out his vengeance once he discovered their duplicity. 

"Your wish has been fulfilled."

"All right! Now Dende we want to wish Piccolo to Namek," Gohan said.

Dende relayed the second wish, also in Namekian. 

"Your wish has been granted," The Great Dragon replied almost instantly.

The Earthlings looked about them, watching for Piccolo to appear. "What? I don't see him?" Krillin shouted when the Earth Namek didn't show up.

"It's our fault," Dende said when he realized their mistake. "We just wished your friend Piccolo to Namek, we didn't wish him to us directly."

Krillin cursed under his breath. 

"Should I use the last wish to bring him here?" Dende asked just before he sensed a fast approaching ki.

"Oh, no! It's Vegita!" Gohan whispered. "It's too late!"

The Saiyan sped toward them, his rage reflected in his ki aura, which shattered small mountains as he thundered past them. The Saiyan prince landed fifty feet away from the gigantic form of Porunga and the trio. Vegita stalked toward them with slow, deliberate steps, his regal features shadowed over with murderous intent.

"I don't believe this," Vegita growled. "I saved your worthless lives, helped to heal that baka Kakarott, gave you new battle suits, and this is how you repay me? You fucking weaklings, how dare you?"

"No…no… Vegita, we…we--" Krillin stammered rooted in place by terror as the ruthless Saiyan came closer.

"Shut your mouth! I will kill you all for this treachery!"

"Wait, Vegita, there's still a wish left! We made our wishes, you can still make yours, too!" Gohan said summoning up enough steel to keep his words from shaking as badly as the rest of his body.

"Gohan!" Krillin barked.

Vegita threw a searing glance at Krillin, silencing the human. Then looked back at Kakarott's brat and smiled nastily, "If you're deceiving me…"

Gohan shook his head. Vegita stomped up to Dende, roughly shoving Krillin and Gohan aside. The Saiyan tilted his head up and looked up at the Great Dragon.

"Make me immortal!"

Of course nothing happened. Vegita snarled and whirled about on the Earthlings, "You lied…"

"The wish has to be in Namekian," Dende said.

"Then tell the Dragon my wish, brat!"

Dende hesitated and looked to his compatriots, seeing the fear on their faces. Vegita grabbed the Namek boy by the front of his robes and lifted him up to eye level, "Now!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Krillin demanded and Vegita rewarded him with a backhand to the face.

"No, don't hurt him! I'll make your wish!" Dende relented.

Vegita smiled triumphantly and set Dende down.

The Namek boy's words began haltingly at first as he conveyed Vegita's wish. Suddenly, an idea occurred to Dende and his words sped up. Dende rushed to get them out, as though the Saiyan would somehow understand his words and stop him before he finished.

"It can be done. Your wish shall be granted," Porunga rumbled.

"**Yes! Yes! Yes!**" Vegita shouted, pumping his fists in the air.

Krillin and Gohan hung their heads low in despair. Knowing that when Vegita's wish came true it would spell their doom. None of them noticed the small smile on Dende's face. "The wish has been fulfilled. I bid thee farewell."

Porunga rose into the darkened sky, its massive form bathe in a brilliant light. It's serpentine tail uncurling and trailing after the majority of its body, shortly followed by all seven of the dragonballs. Porunga disappeared and the dragonballs let off one last intense burst of luminance, streaked apart, then fell weightily back to the ground.

At the same time, pillars of light surrounded Gohan, Krillin, and Dende. The pillars seeming to stretch and distort their bodies as strange, arcane energy lit them up like miniature stars.

"What have you done?" Vegita asked, though he already knew the answer.

His fingernails digging into his palms, drawing blood, Freeza knew the answer as well.

The regeneration tank exploded and turned to slag as complex energies consumed Son Goku. The Saiyan had never felt so alive, as power, **real** **power**, coursed through every vein. The injuries his body had suffered at the hands of Vegita more then diminished, they became nonexistent, and something inside Goku informed him he would no longer have to endure such pains again.

Nail stood up as rapture tore through his tall, stout body. Never before had the young Namek man felt such energy. As a native of Namekku, despite being a warrior class Namek-jin, Nail fully understood the energies flowing through him. It was everlasting life. Pure unadulterated life force, that would continuously flow into his every muscle, every bone, and drop of blood until the end of time.

Nail held his arms out to his sides and tilted his head back relishing the sensations of impending immortality. Oh, how wonderful it felt! How intoxicating!

Piccolo did not understand. His body was being torn apart by bliss, overwhelming the Earth-born Namek to the point that he could not maintain flight. He withered in ecstasy inside the small crater his falling form had made in the ground. Shuddering, Piccolo's back arched dramatically as fiery orgasmic-like sensations pulsated throughout every fiber of his being, until only his head and feet touched the ground. He let out a ragged moan as one last jolt of sensuous pleasure tidal waved up his spine and exploded in his mind.

Kamisama adapted to true immortality easily, accepting the cosmic gift passionlessly. The current God of Earth could hear his loyal assistant Mr. Popo fearfully exclaiming his name. Kamisama ignored the jinn; there was no way he'd be able to assure the other that he was fine. 

Mr. Popo was very protective. 

Kamisama calmly let the energy flow through him, feeling neither pleasure nor pain. As a god, Kamisama knew something of immortality; he possessed the collected knowledge of Kamis' from eons past. His own memories and experiences would also live on in the Gods' of Earth who followed after him, and this, in its own way, was a sort of immortality.

When it was over, Kamisama opened his eyes. The elderly Namek stood up straight, holding his wooden walking stick horizontal to the ground. He didn't need to lean upon it anymore.

Saichiyourou sat heavily in his chair, eternal life pouring into his massive form unbidden, unwanted. The Elder Namek did not fault Dende, the young Namek had been very shrewd, if not wise, concocting the wish and had undoubtedly saved them all from destruction at the hands of Freeza. But still, Dende had made a grave mistake.

Bulma Briefs wanted to scream. 

She wasn't a weak woman, far from it, in fact. And nor was she unaccustomed to strange happenings, but she usually saw them coming. Bulma had always been at the forefront—peripherally, if not directly—of the action ever since she hooked up with Goku. She was there when Pilaf tried to wish himself king of the world, she was also present during the long, bloody battle with the Red Ribbon Army, and she when Radditz, Goku's long lost brother, arrived on Earth. Bulma was always at least aware of the occasions when the world faced its dangers, even as the majority of Earth's population remained blissfully ignorant.

But this was too close for comfort. A little more involved in the game then she cared for. Bulma Briefs wanted to scream.

She was at the mercy of the energy, which lifted her slender body six feet off the ground. The power made her rigid all over, making her feel as though she were composed of one big charley horse. Albeit a painless one.

Is this what ki feels like? She wondered. 

As one of the most prominent scientists on Earth, Bulma was familiar with different types of energies: Electrical, solar, plasma, atomic, and to some lesser extent, magical. But until she "appropriated" Radditz's scouter, she had absolutely no understanding of ki. Even after seeing it used countless times over the past thirteen years.

Ki seemed more mystical then magic itself, because no one had been able to explain its principles to her adequately. Magic's origins were spiritual, connected to the nether realms. Equally as baffling, but Bulma could accept its mysteries. The answers would come sooner or later. But ki, it was just there. And there was no scientific way of measuring its dimensions: Until she got her hands on a scouter. Yet even that didn't explain how some human beings, and all Saiyans, and apparently all Nameks learned to master and increase their ki. There were times Bulma wished she could truly study ki, but was never able to get any of her ki-manipulating friends to submit to her tests.

Not that she blamed them. Who wanted to be a guinea pig?

The energy released her. Bulma dropped to the ground, landing neatly on her feet at first, but then her legs went wobbly and she sank to her knees. Her eyelids were drooping, giving the young woman the appearance of falling asleep and her head swayed around in lazy circles. 

Bulma felt giddy, like she was maybe a little drunk.

"Dende what did you wish for?" Krillin asked the boy. "What did you do to us?" 

"Yeah, I feel so strange," Gohan agreed his voice slurred and little more then a mumble. 

"You idiots! He's given you immortality!" Vegita screamed his eyes were black points of murder aimed at the Namek boy.

Vegita was furious but Dende was smiling. He understood that it was making the Saiyan angrier, but the boy couldn't restrain the upward sweep of his lips. The elation of immortality was overriding the young Namek's good sense.

Hands pulled him away from Vegita, who was literally shaking with rage.

"I fooled you," Dende told the Saiyan prince, his childish voice high and giggly.

Once again Dende was pulled back. The two off-worlders put the boy behind them as Vegita's face twisted into something less then humanoid. "Little slug… I'll… I'll…"

Dende laughed derisively, "You'll what? You'll kill me? I can't die! None of us can die now, you big stupid!"

"Dende, be quiet! What's wrong with you?" Krillin asked aghast at the kid's careless behavior.

The boy covered his mouth with his hands as tears of hysteria poured from the corners of his dark eyes and down his chubby cheeks. Dende tried to stifle his laughter but it didn't work. "Fooled you, fooled you!"

Gohan and Krillin knew the Saiyan Prince was dangerous, to their minds even deadlier then this Freeza they'd heard so much about. But the two Earthlings had never seen the Saiyan truly enraged. Vegita looked utterly insane as he advanced on the trio.

His features altered dramatically, his once smooth complexion creasing with deep lines as his brow furrowed, and his eyes shrunk into slits. The Saiyan's mouth opened wide and his teeth, which seemed impossibly white, were bared in a feral manner. The Prince was screaming, but no sound was coming out. Veins popped out under the skin on his face, coursing with violence laced blood.

"I can't wipe you from existence, true, but there is no end to the amount of pain I can inflict upon you—" Vegita's threat died on his lips. Anger was quickly replaced with terror, his expression now mirroring the looks of fear he'd inspired in the two beings that stood trembling in front of him. Krillin and Gohan automatically turned to follow the Prince's gaze.

"Believe the mighty prince when he says he can make your lives a living purgatory," the ruler of the known universe began. "He has been schooled by the best."

"F-F-Free--" Krillin choked out, but it was Vegita who finished the word for him.

"Freeza."

Dende laughed uncontrollably.

The Ginyu frog hopped. And hopped, with no place to go. Ginyu had no idea he was immortal, and even if he had, it was quite certain he wouldn't have given a damn. 

He was a frog! How could he have been so careless? Hindsight told the Body snatcher cum amphibian, that he should have annihilated that Saiyan after appropriating his body. But the excitement of gaining such a powerful form had been exhilarating, and Ginyu couldn't help but feel invincible.

And now he was a frog.

The frog Ginyu ribbited happily, if such emotion could be associated with the actions of a barely sentient animal. For the longest time the frog Ginyu had felt pain, smelled blood. But it didn't smell like its blood. Then suddenly the pain was gone. Frog Ginyu rose from his hunched position on the ground and leaped energetically into the air, higher then any frog in the whole universe.

Krillin, Gohan, and Dende backed away from Freeza, heedlessly moving closer to Vegita. Krillin was holding Dende. His gloved hand covered the Namek boy's mouth, cutting off Dende's uncontrollable stream of laughter. 

The small horned creature stood atop a rocky incline, staring imperiously down at the bunch, his hands clasped behind his back. A constant glare dazzling off the red lens of the warlord's scouter. Freeza allowed the stinging pain in his palms to wash over his mind. It wouldn't do to loose control just now. After all, he could still use the Namek dragonballs at some later date, but not if he atomized the planet.

"Ah, Vegita, Vegita, Vegita, how far you have fallen! To be outmaneuvered by such insects; what would your father say, hmm?" Freeza asked shaking his head sadly.

Vegita showed no reaction to the Changeling's remark. The Saiyan stood motionless and his hawkish features were steadfast as he stared blankly up at the being that had been the focus of his life for so long. "Perhaps," Vegita replied suddenly. 

"But I am not the only fool. Or am I wrong, Freeza? Are you immortal?"

A growl rumbled in Freeza's throat, but the Changeling squashed it and let a twitch of a smile play across his face. "No. Ha. You're right, Vegita we have both erred. Who could have anticipated such cunning from these… things?

"Not that it will help them in the end."

Freeza blurred and was standing a mere dozen feet apart from the quartet. Freeza had yet to remove his hands from behind his back, choosing not to reveal the lines of red-purplish blood oozing over the clasp of his fists. It was important not to show how thoroughly the scum before him had elicited the Changeling's ire.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Vegita said and powered up.

Freeza raised an eyebrow and observed the read out on his scouter. "What do you think you're doing?" Freeza asked. _100,000. Interesting._

"Nothing," Vegita said. "He's going to do it for me," the Saiyan prince lifted into the air slowly, keeping his eyes on Freeza.

Vegita was calm. He felt a kind of peace that only came with utter desolation; and complete failure. And he had failed. Freeza thought he knew to what extent, but he didn't. If the tyrant had any idea he would be running, or rather flying, into space right now.

"He?" Freeza inquired taking his eyes off of the hovering Saiyan and scanned the small assemblage of Earthlings and lone Namek. "Are you trying to imply one of **these** will attempt to engage me?"

Freeza returned his gaze to Vegita. "They are nothing even with immortality."

A cold smile touched Vegita's lips. "I'm not talking about them."

Freeza's scouter beeped to life. By the time he turned around to follow the digital read out's compass, a man was standing behind him. 

"What's this?"


	2. Chapter 2

****

Author: Jacob M. Bosch

****

PAIRING: None  
**RATING:** PG-13  
**WARNINGS:** None

****

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dragonball-Z, not really sure who does either. It'd be a shame if people I don't know sued me. J v

****

SUMMARY: Dende makes a wish and Bulma, Krillin, Vegita, and Gohan learn why Saiyans and Nameks should never attain immortality.

****

NOTES: Sorry this is chapter is so short, considering the all the time it took to get it out, but I'm trying to pour myself into my other stories. But the good thing is that I do have the next chapter of Reasonable Wish half-written, and the whole thing plotted out to the end.

REASONABLE WISH

Bulma huffed and grunted trying to lift the rock.

"Okay. Not super strong. And that was almost as embarrassing as the Kamehameha experiment," Bulma mumbled to herself as she straightened up. She winced at the sharp pain pinching her lower back while she wiped away the sweat dampening her forehead. "Then what the hell was the light show all about?"

Feeling like she'd made enough of a fool of herself, Bulma pulled out a Capsule depressed its activation button and tossed the small white caplet to the ground. A few seconds later an air-cycle appeared in front of Bulma amidst a shot-lived puff of purple smoke.

Bulma walked up to the cycle and moved to go on. Her eyebrows arched when she discovered she felt absolutely no discomfort when she straddled the cycle's seat. Her back felt the way it had before she aggravated it trying to pick up the boulder.

__

Must not have been as bad as I thought.

Soon Bulma was speeding along the patchwork plains of Namek at two hundred miles per hour. The hydrofoils kicking up dust and flattened green grass as the cycle passed by. Bulma leaned into the cycle, protecting her face with the windshield.

__

It's time to find Goku and the others. They'd know what's going on. Everything strange that happens to me is always their fault somehow.

Freeza turned to find a man standing behind him dressed in red and blue clothing, smiling broadly. As Freeza eyed the man, the newcomer's smile grew. He flicked out his tongue and licked his top lip, in what appeared to be anticipation.

"What's this?"

"Father!"

"Goku!"

"Father? Goku? What kind of stupid name is Goku?" Freeza asked as he focused on the readings his scouter displayed. The man had a power level of 1,000. 

__

However, the Nameks had the ability to suppress their initial ki readings, so there may be more to this man then meets the eye. Still, I am Freeza. No matter what strength he hides from me it cannot match my limitless power.

"Right on time, Kakarott," Vegita said as he hovered high above the ground.

Freeza's eyes widened. _Kakarott! That's a Saiyan moniker!_

"I live to please you, my liege," the newcomer replied, his smile going crooked.

Freeza turned back to Vegita. "You depend upon one of your lowly subjects to save you, Vegita? What **has** happened to your pride?"

Freeza felt a light tapping on his left shoulder guard, and before he could turn around fully, a powerful punch smashed into the side of his face. He went hurdling towards the two Earthlings and the Namek boy. The trio hastily scattered; the bald man grabbed the Namek boy and jumped to one side, and the Earthling boy leaped in the opposite direction.

Freeza could not believe the strength behind the newcomer's blow. The Changeling's head was ringing, and his teeth felt ready to dislodge from his gums. A thunderclap filled the air when Freeza exerted his ki and stopped his flight through the air and righted himself.

Freeza raised his hand to the corner of his mouth to wipe away blood, then froze in mid-motion. The man was floating right there in front of him. Close enough that Freeza didn't need to extend his arm all the way to touch him. 

"Lowly subject," the man gave a brief bark of laughter, "I would never serve Vegita. He is not my prince."

Another fist drilled into Freeza's midsection.

"He's meat. You're meat. And he will follow you to Hell."

Freeza vomited blood onto the man's arm. Outwardly, his body appeared intact; not even his armor was cracked. But internally, the kinetic force of the man's blow had exploded his organs.

As his life force began to drain away, Freeza looked at his killer. Freeza shook his head in disbelief… his killer. He couldn't believe such a person could exist.

"Who are you?"

The man, Kakarott, a Saiyan, yes, Freeza was sure of it, smiled.

Freeza saw no more. 

Krillin pick Dende and himself off the ground. Dende was giggling softly to himself. Krillin shook his head and then looked around to find Goku and Freeza.

He spotted them floating stationary several hundred yards away.

__

I didn't think it was possible, but Goku is even faster then when he took on Team Ginyu!

Goku and Freeza floated together in front of each other for a few moments then Goku's fist shot out and hit Freeza's mid-section. If Krillin had gone by appearance alone, Goku's blow seemed to have no strength behind it. Because Freeza didn't budge an inch or react in any way to Goku's fist. 

But Krillin could rely upon more than his eyes. Krillin sensed the wild ki Goku delivered with the punch. So much power that it seemed like there should have been some kind of explosion afterwards… 

Krillin's eyes became wide as saucers when he understood the attack Goku used.

"Father?"

Gohan came and stood beside Krillin. Gohan probably sensed his father's ki spike, but Krillin doubted the young boy understood exactly what had happened. Piccolo was a pretty harsh guy, but he wouldn't have taught Gohan such a vicious attack.

Another moment passed before Freeza's ki began to fade away, the warlord was dying and Krillin felt some satisfaction at that. The memory of Freeza ordering the deaths of the Nameks from Dende's village was still fresh in his mind. But he still couldn't believe Goku killed Freeza like that.

It was unusually cruel for Goku.

"Oh… No! Goku!" Krillin screamed in horror as Goku raised his right arm as if he were about to punch Freeza, only to straighten his hand out when he punched. Ramming his fingertips right through Freeza's face.

"D-D-Daddy?"

Goku's removed his forearm from the hole that had become Freeza's skull. As the Changeling fell to the ground, Goku raised his arm and moved his face back and forth over it. Krillin was unable to tell what Goku was doing from his vantage point. Goku might have been sampling the blood or just smelling the dark fluid. Either way, Krillin felt ill.

"I don't understand. What's wrong with my Dad, Krillin? I know it was Freeza… but Father wouldn't kill anyone like that… would he?"

Krillin didn't have an answer for Gohan. 

Krillin remembered a time back when he and Goku were kids and Goku killed opponents with little or no mercy shown to them. But those had been barbarous times, and Goku learned to show more compassion since then. He accepted the ways of peace over mindless violence.

Even so, Goku never seemed so bloodthirsty. And to kill Freezer like that in front of Gohan…

"Where are you going, Vegita?" Goku called out.

Krillin and Gohan turned and saw that Vegita was discreetly flying away from them. The Saiya-jin prince halted in mid air and rotated slowly to face Goku.

Goku finally turned around as well. He lowered his arm to his side with Freeza's blood rolling down it, dripping off his fingertips. Krillin's felt his own blood run cold at the sight of Goku's expression.

Goku smiled a smile at the Saiya-jin Prince that was dangerous, and tight, and wrong. 

"I asked you where do you think you're going, Vegita? Don't you wanna fight?"

Vegita's stared back at Goku, his own expression betraying nothing. "Not today Kakarott."

"I thought you wanted to know who is the strongest Saiya-jin in the universe?"

"Immortality would pollute the contest, don't you think?"

Goku's smile disappeared for a moment then came back much larger then before, "You aren't immortal, it's true, I can tell." Goku began laughing. "Oh, how it must irk you that I am?"

Without his lips parting, Vegita's mouth twisted upwards into a sneer but said nothing.

"Poor Vegita, I seemed to have beaten you to all your goals in life. I attained immortality before you **and** obliterated Freeza before you. I wonder… what do you have left to live for?"

Vegita's smiled faded away at the thinly veiled threat.

Goku waved dismissive hand at Vegita. "Ah, go ahead and leave. I understand your fear."

"You--" Vegita started then stopped and crossed his arms over his chest, smiling wickedly. "Has immortality somehow made you smarter, Kakarott? I never would have guessed manipulation was one of your talents before today."

Goku smiled back, "You act as though it would take an intelligent mind to provoke your temper, my liege."

"You mock me," Vegita stated thoughtfully. "You've changed, Kakarott."

"I haven't changed. I am free. There is a difference."

Goku put his hand out and beckoned Vegita forward.

"Come Vegita, I want to see just how far my new immortality goes." 


End file.
